ON FAITH

Faith. What is your faith? Not your religion. Not your beliefs. What is your faith?
James Fowler, the guru of faith development wrote Stages of Faith, a book that is part of every religious scholars reading list and found in most clergy persons personal library. In the first chapter of that book he describes the following story:
He was driving to a workshop on faith, which he was leading. He was rehearsing a set of questions he had planned for the opening session, questions designed to open up some honest talk about faith in our lives. They were the questions, which you have in your bulletin tonight. He felt satisfied with these questions; they were not easy questions. He congratulated himself for his cleverness in coming up with such a useful, probing workshop opener and then, it hit him. How would he answer his own questions?
He then says: "I had to pull my car over to the shoulder and stop. For the next forty minutes, almost making myself late for the workshop, I examined the structure of values, the patterns of love and action, the shape of fear and dread and the directions of hope and friendship in my own life."
How easy it is to talk about faith – to preach about faith – to even teach about faith – how many of us can articulate our own faith? Fowler says that faith is not the same as religion or belief and that faith is not always religious in content or context. He says that faith is universal for all human beings, even for those with or without religious beliefs, traditions, or communities. Fowler’s definition of faith is this: "Faith is a person’s or group’s way of moving into the force field of life. It is our way of finding coherence in and giving meaning to the multiple forces and relations that make up our lives."
What are the values that are your ultimate concern? Fowler writes, "Our real worship, our true devotion directs itself toward the objects of our ultimate concern. Ultimate concern may be invested in family, university, nation, or church. Love, sex and a loved partner might be the passionate center of one’s ultimate concern. Ultimate concern is a much more powerful matter than claimed belief in a creed or a set of doctrinal propositions or a set of principles. Faith may or may not find its expression in institutional or...religious forms. If we understand faith in this manner then it involves how we make our most important decisions and it shapes the ways we invest our deepest loves and our most costly loyalties.” Where is your faith?
The key question of faith is not "What do you believe?" but "On what or on whom do you set your heart?" The Hindu, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words for faith all involve an alignment of the heart or will -- a commitment of loyalty and trust. “ I set my heart on, I give my heart to, I hereby commit myself to, and I pledge allegiance to” are all meanings of the word "believe".
We tend to ask of one another, "What do you believe?" but I think we should try to reach another level of depth -- the question has to become one of faith: "On what or whom do you set your heart? What hope and what ground of hope animate you and give shape to the force field of your life and to how you move into it?"
I have a friend who is a rare commodity. She is younger even than my own children – but wise well beyond her years. She is the most “faithful” person I know. Sometimes she amazes her friends – sometimes she amuses us… but none of us doubts her true faith.
 She cuts coupons from the paper and magazines and when she goes to the store she leaves them on the shelves next to the products they represent so that some other person might use them.
 She regularly grocery shops for the food bank – she diligently tithes all that she earns, but also all that she receives in the way of gifts or windfalls.
 She doesn’t hesitate to tell you she is praying for you – and she is the kind of person that when she says it, you know it will happen.
 She has said that every night she prays for all the children of the world who are hungry or hurt or alone – and she truly believes her prayers will make a difference.
 She is scrupulously honest. I have never heard her curse – and when she really became steamed at a man she knew she called him a “jack-behind” and her friends thought she was hilarious – but we also knew her choice of language came from integrity – not ignorance or self-righteousness. She thought it would be wrong to say “ass”.
 When she is asked to be the lay reader at her place of worship, she routinely memorizes the texts – why? “Because people will understand it better if it isn’t read” she says.
 She has often said: "I want to live the kind of life that God will want to answer my prayers."
Her focus was not really on God answering prayer but rather on living the kind of life that reflected her understanding of ultimate value. This woman could be Lutheran, or Jewish, Catholic or Buddhist. Her faith does not depend on the expression of her religion. She has found her faith – and I believe that all the underpinnings of her religion could be taken away, and she would still be a person of faith.
I think one of the reasons we don’t understand our identity, as a people of faith is that we have forgotten which questions to ask. Instead of prophetic questions, like Micah’s ‘What does the Lord require?’ (to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God), we are such products of consumer society that our questions about religion are upside down: ‘What do I require? – How is this church, this order of worship, this denominational identity, this way of looking at God helping/serving/informing/me? What am I getting out of this experience?”
Like Micah, my friend’s focus is on what is required of her. She understands how easy it is for us to fall into selfishness and behaving in ways to serve our own needs. She has the unconscious humility of the truly righteous. Certainly in my friend’s living -- in how she spends her time and energy, her faith and practice are intertwined. She, like Fowler, considers faith serious business and she has an infectious joy of life.
On whom or what do you set your heart? I can’t answer for you… but the goal would be to answer that question with honesty, with courage, with trust that the question itself can teach you something and can lead you to transformative growth. There are no right answers here – no wrong ones either.
I have two wishes for you. The first is that you may be caught by the question about faith in the same way that Fowler was that day in his car. To have one’s attention, mind, heart, and spirit caught in such a way is both gift and grace. The second wish I have for you is that, if you do not wish to enter into discerning your own faith – if this is something you abhor -- that you will listen and respond to others as they reflect upon theirs. Either way, I believe we can find transformation.

TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG … THAT IS THE QUESTION!

“We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.” – John Naisbitt

I come from the “old school”. You know, the days when one person’s opinion was shared with those who wanted to hear it – and generally, needed to ask – not with the entire world wide web! I come from a generation that was taught to believe that if you wanted to really impress people with your wisdom and knowledge, that “less is more”? So I am in a bit of a quandary. There are people in my life who have encouraged me to “blog” – to share my “wisdom”, to break forth with snippets of life experience or to share “what are you doing now” so that all the world can see (or at least those who happen to log on to my blog!)

But I feel daunted by that task! Who wants to know what I think? Don’t I do enough of that on any given Sunday morning?? And shouldn’t I be listening more and ranting less? Seems to me that’s the way it should work… but I continue to be encouraged to say more, write more, opine to my heart’s content. Jeez!

“The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.” Hubert Humphrey

And so, perhaps I have come upon a plan! I will write occasionally – when, in fact I think I have something to say. But in the meantime, I would be happy to “listen” and answer any questions that anyone might have for me that they think I might be able to answer. (I’ll give it my best shot!) Questions about religion, faith, the bible, current events, etc. I can wax eloquent for hours (I think) if someone else gives me the topic!

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.” Isaac Asimov.

So, let’s give it a try! If you have a question, let me know and I will try to give a fair answer – my opinion or maybe my understanding given the knowledge I have – but none the less, an answer.

Are you up for it?

GRACE AND COMMUNITY

We are in the season of Pentecost – the season of the Spirit. And that seems to fit nicely with the popular culture these days. Have you noticed? For some time now we seem to be seeing a resurgence of spirituality in all its forms. I’m sure you have heard someone say, “I’m not very religious, I’ll admit --- but I’m very spiritual!” We see it all around us with television programs about angels and miracles -- and even Oprah’s “Remembering Your Spirit“.

In church we talk about the work of the Holy Spirit of God – moving, stirring, inspiring, and leading people of all tongues and races. But do you think that is the same activity that is being referred to by people who are “discovering their spirit”? Is there a difference between us getting in touch with our spirit … and God sending the spirit of eternity and wisdom; the spirit of comfort and fire among us?

Is this just a case where the church is out of touch with the real needs of people today, (lagging behind the popular revelation of Spirit being poured out among the many)? Or is it, maybe, a case where we are trying to blend too many metaphors (mixing spirituality and the tranquil life with worship of God and reverence for the holy)?

I think the Apostle Paul offers some helpful hints for understanding both the Biblical view of the Holy Spirit, and the popular view of human spirituality. In Romans 5:1-5
1. By faith, we have peace with God.
2. In Jesus, our Christ, we find God and receive the grace of God’s acceptance.
3. Our faith and experience of God is something we share joyfully with others.
4. We also take joy from the lessons of life – namely, that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
5. And finally, hope is our bedrock, because it is a gift of the Spirit of God – which we receive through the love of God.

Interesting! Paul summarized quite nicely, I think, the two realities of Spirit: Our spirit – which strengthens us, gives us character and guides us toward community with others … and God’s Holy Spirit – which is the source of our spiritual journeying; a unique gift; a grant from the loving nature of Godself. God’s grace is the motivation … our sense of community and our care for ourselves and for one another is the reward.

The message of Pentecost is the story of God’s holy spirit … the message of popular spirituality is the story of how the divine penetrates and permeates the very core of our being. It is the blending of grace and community; of source and discovery; of inspiring love and hopeful character-building.

On Pentecost Sunday (May 31, 2009) I invited the congregation to join with me in celebrating both Grace and Community and in new way. We were invited to celebrate the God who loves us and who gives us opportunities to love one another and to celebrate God’s holy spirit, and the spiritual journey we each are on.

In a basket, I placed the names of each of member or friend of the church who is currently “active”… these names also include some of our newer frequent visitors and all of the homebound members of the church.

We passed the basket around, inviting everyone in attendance to choose a name at random and the person they chose would be the person for whom they will give special care for the next year:
Pray for that person – call them when they miss worship on a Sunday – talk to them, when you get a moment, about their faith, their character, their hope, their “spirit” – remember their birthday, significant anniversaries, milestones and life markers. BUILD COMMUNITY. BE INTENTIONAL.

The Hebrew word for this is: Ets-ra . It means, “helper” or “partner”. It is a wonderful word that is used both in reference to God being our helper, and to us being each other’s helper. It sums up the relationship created by God’s spirit, and our spirit. It is the perfect way to live out the blending of traditional Pentecost observance of Spirit with current understandings of spirituality.

Ets-ra is who God is to us … and who we are to each other.
Ets-ra is who you will be for one other person in this congregation until Trinity Sunday, 2010..
Ets-ra is the challenge of this community … and it is the expression of God’s grace.
You will be an Ets-ra for someone … and someone will be Ets-ra for you.

Everyone who was not in attendance on May 31 will be given an opportunity to choose a name from the basket. Everyone will be included. Everyone counts.

Ets-ra is the way we will build and enrich our community: We will be each other’s helper. We will care for one another. We will be intentional about our ministry to one another. We will live as helpers, as partners, in a common spiritual journey … guided by the great and gracious Spirit of our loving God.

Let me know what you think about being an Ets Ra!